Taken July 30, about 7 weeks since I incorporated weight training into my cardio schedule, and a gain of 6 pounds. My camera died several times while taking these, and the lighting kinda sucks...plus I discovered how hard it is to hold a camera and take a picture of different body parts! I wish I had taken true 'before' shots, as the 6 pounds are definitely noticeable on such a tiny frame. Just picture the same thing, only even tinier

A shot of my abs, taken for the ab thread:

My left (weaker) biceps:

My left triceps and pec (clearly, I could not figure out a way to flex both sides and take a photo at the same time...):

Thanks! My goal is to be 130 pounds by next duathlon season (May 2009). So that's 24 pounds of lean mass over a year. If I have my way, I'd also like to be able to bench that same weight for three full sets of 6-8 reps at that point, and squat 150 for the same number of sets and reps. I think I can do it. Right now it's tough because I'm still training to race at the end of August, and doing so much cardio definitely slows down bulking. Starting in September, my cardio will be down to about 2 hours a week and I'm going to try to hit the weights 3 times a week (and work the legs a lot more), so hopefully the gains will speed up a bit, at least until that "easy beginner" phase ends.

I've been successful in bulking these past few months, getting up to 122 lbs. Not 100% of it was muscle, so I'm thinking of upping my cardio and bodyweight exercises and trying to cut to see how much truly lean mass I've added. That, or I might just continue bulking since (for once) my body seems to be responding well to it. I'm adding this as a reply to my old post for comparison purposes. Those old photos were taken just after working out, while these were taken just before bed, so keep that in mind. Still, I think I'm headed in the right direction - I've had multiple people notice recently and tell me my chest/arms look bigger.

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So what do you think? Should I just keep pushing for mass right now (having made it this far) and cut afterward? Or cut now, see where I stand, and then reassess/get back to bulking? Ultimately, and realistically, a lean 130 is my goal.

One more, just because I was standing like this while having a conversation with my biking buddy (well, shirted but the pose was the same) and he said, "Holy shit! Have you been working on your forearms?". I'm not flexing here at all...it was just how I was standing then.

Still looking nice and lean. Keep the bulk up and just let yourself lean out slow and natural once you reach your goal weight. No point losing hard earned muscle trying to lean out early. Great work. Oh, how tall are you?

WL:I'm around 5'6". My lowest weight about a year and a half ago was (a frightening) 108. That was when I was running pretty hardcore and not weight training. I haven't been as consistent as I'd like with the weight training this past year, but I'm trying to improve on that front. I think 130 is a good goal. If 130 is my target lean weight, how high above that do you think I should go before cutting? With my cardio endurance and my body type, I can drop weight much faster than I put it on, so I know it will be an easy cut. I've never added any serious mass before, so I don't have any experience as to what kind of margin I should be giving myself here.

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